Bread Pudding

Rich and creamy,

great for breakfast

I cut the crust of whole wheat  and white bread 
to  make tea sandwiches for a luncheon.

I saved the crust and made a bread pudding with it.

I adapted a recipe from King Arthur Flour.
The recipe calls for 1 cup walnuts,
I used 1/2 cup and added 1/2 currants.

Ingredients

4 to 4 1/2 cubed bread
4 large eggs 
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp maple flavour or vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
(to toast walnuts, place on a cookies
sheet, at 350 deg. for 8-10 mins.)

1/2 cup currants. 


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350deg.F
Grease an 8x8 square casserole dish,
1 1/2 quart dish.

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl.

In a medium bowl, (I use 

large measuring cup)

whisk together the eggs, 

milk, heavy cream, maple syrup, brown sugar, maple flavour or vanilla, nutmeg

and salt.

Pour over the bread cubes and stir thoroughly.
Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes
 to allow the bread cubes to 
absorb the liquid.

Stir in the nuts and currants

Place in the prepared baking dish.

1.  and bake for 35-40 minutes or 
   until the centre is firm when you press on it.
   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
   
   Remove from the oven and serve 

   warm with whipped cream or ice cream. 
   
   
   

   
   
   
   

   

   
   
   Store,  covered in the refrigerator for 5 days.
2. Thanks for your visit xo

Lemon Loaf

If you're a lemon lover, you'll love this lemon loaf.

I'm longing for Starbucks lemon loaf,
and I see recipes on the internet.

There's no Starbucks in this region,

so I had to make this copycat

lemon loaf.
It did not disappoint.
It is delicious.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt, if you use salted
butter, omit the salt.
(Optional zest of 1 lemon.) 

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp butter softened
3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil.

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda,
baking powder, lemon zest, and salt.

In a larger bowl, use a mixer to blend together the
 sugar and butter, add the eggs, vanilla and 
lemon extracts, lemon juice and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
 and blend until smooth.

Pour batter into a greased 9x5" loaf pan.

Bake 350 degF.  (325degF for a glass dish)
 for 45 minutes or until a
 toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes
 before turning it out onto a wire rack 
to cool completely.
It is normal to have a crack
 down the middle of quick breads.

Lemon Glaze
1 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp lemon extract.
Add more milk, if too thick.


When the loaf has cooled, remove from the pan 
and top with the glaze. 

1. Thanks for your visit xo

Oven Baked Salmon Cakes

These salmon cakes are
 a favourite with my family
and so simple to make,
with cooked fresh salmon,
or canned salmon.

Several health benefits, 
A source of vitamin D, 
Omega-3 fatty acids

 and anti-inflammatory properties,
 linked with the prevention of cancer. 

What I use:

1 cup breadcrumbs

(I use Pastene Italian Flavoured)

1 small onion grated 

1 garlic clove minced

2 cans,  213g each,

Sockeye Red Pacific Salmon, drained.

2 shallots/green onions chopped finely

1/3 cup fresh dill roughly chopped (or

1 tsp dried herbs of choice)

2 eggs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese or cheese of

 your choice.

salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 400deg.F
Place bread crumbs in a bowl.
Add grated onion to bread crumbs.
Add remaining ingredients except the salmon.

Add salmon leaving large flakes.

Scoop up 1/4 cup mixture or a 
packed standard ice cream scoop.
Form/flatten the round cakes about 1/2 inch thick.

Place the cakes on an oiled cookie sheet.


DO NOT press the cakes down on 
 the cookie sheet. (it will cause them stick)

Brush oil on top of cakes and bake for 15 minutes.
Flip, brush oil over cakes and bake another 10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream or tartar sauce.

Great on a bun!!

Thanks for your visit xo

Old Fashioned Gumdrop Cake

A rich and moist cake, filled with
 with bright coloured gumdrop candies.

Great for afternoon tea, snack

and children will love it.

I made this cake for a church bakesale.

I will slice it and take most of it to the sale.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of one lemon

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup evaporated milk

2 1/2 cups baking gumdrops.

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 deg.F

Grease and place parchment paper in 
a bundt pan or loaf pan. 
I used a small tube pan and a loaf pan. 

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and lemon zest.

In a bowl, whist together the flour and baking powder.

Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the evaporated milk beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Fold in the fruit that has been tossed in 1/4 cup flour.

Fill the pan/s.

Bake 300deg. F. for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. Depending on the size of your pan. Loaf pans make take shorter time. Do the toothpick test. When a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, it is done. 
Do not overcook, or it will be too dry.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I sprinkled some powdered sugar/icing sugar on the top.

Enjoy!

Thanks for your visit xo

Valentine Sweet~Hearts

These elegant, rich, buttery cookies, 

 taste as good as they look.

Decadent shortbread heart cookies
filled with jam. Serve with afternoon tea,

a snack or dessert.

I used a basic shortbread recipe 

and added jams in the middle.

Bonne Maman Jam,
this delicious jam, a product of France.
strawberry, raspberry, wild blueberry and apricot.
I received these little jams as a Christmas gift.
from my sweet daughter.
Perfect for the fillings.

Shortbread dough recipe

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter at room temperature

1/2 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Jam for filling.

Directions

In a bowl, whisk the flour with the salt, set aside.

With an electric beater or hand beater, beat the soft butter
until smooth (about 1 minute).

Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes)
Beat in the vanilla extract.

Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.

Flatten the dough into a disk shape, 
wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough
 for at least an hour.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 
until it is about 1/8 inch thick.

Cut out the cookies with a cookie cutter. 

(Divide the cut out cookies in half,
 and cut half with a small cookie cutter heart in the middle.

Spread some jam on each of the cookie bottoms. 

Set a cutout cookie on top of each, over the jam.

Knead the leftover scraps of dough into a ball and roll out again

I used half of my dough for Valentine Cutie-Pies in a previous blog.

Place the unbaked cookies on a baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baking. Bake at 350deg.F for about 15-20 minutes or until cookie edges are lightly browned.

I sprinkled some with icing sugar/powdered sugar.

To avoid getting some powdered sugar on the jam 
in the middle, I covered the little heart cookie
 cutter with saran wrap and placed it over
 the middle of the cookie.

"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.

~Jane Austen~

To view my blog on Valentine Cutie-Pies,
little hand held pies filled with raspberry jam. 
to view click here.

Thanks for your visit xo

Happy Valentines Day